Please read the Potter's Hand Employee Handbook:

Activities of Daily Living

Activities of daily living (ADLs) are basic tasks that must be accomplished every day for an individual to live. It is Potter’s Hand LLC policy to provide the following: 

• Personal hygiene 

• Continence management

• Dressing 

• Feeding

• Companionship and mental support 

• Transportation and shopping 

• Preparing meals 



• Managing a person’s household.

Attendance Policy

Your attendance and punctuality are very important. Absences cause a slow-down in the work and added burdens for your fellow employees. Good attendance is something that is expected from all employees. You should be at your scheduled client by the start of each workday at the time designated by the company based on client’s needs. Excessive absenteeism or tardiness will not be tolerated and will be cause for disciplinary action up to and including discharge.

• A call in without a doctor’s note will result in ½ of an occurrence. 

• 3 occurrences in a year will result in termination. (Which means 6 call ins in one year)

• Two no-call now shows for any reason will result in IMMIDIATE termination. 

• An occurrence is removed after a period of one year. 

• Being more than 15 minutes late for a shift without proper notification will result in ½ an occurrence.

Absences

• You must call and speak with a supervisor if you are calling in for a shift. Leaving a voicemail or Text message is NOT acceptable. 

• If you must leave work on a case before the shift has ended, you must notify the supervisor IMMEDIATELY to give them enough time to find a replacement.

• Legitimate reasons not to be able to report to work are family emergencies, medical emergencies, death of a relative, and illness.

• NO CALL, NO SHOW TO ANY CASE MAY RESULT IN IMMEDIATE TERMINATION.

• Frequent absences, even excused, will result in termination.

Time off Requests

• You agree that if you are aware you will need time off for an appointment, or you would like days off for a non-emergency reason, you will give the office at least 3 weeks’ notice or more. 

• You are not able to make independent arrangements with friends, family members who are not employed with Potter’s Hand.  

• If you wish to have a day off on a major holiday, you will notify the agency's staffing department 4 weeks in advance.

• In the event that I need off without proper notice, I will make every attempt to contact my coworkers to find my own coverage first. If I do find coverage, I must notify my manager of the change. 

• Any switching of the client’s hours MUST go through my manager first. 

• In the event that you have to stay late or leave a client’s house early, you must have prior approval from you supervisor. 

• If things are not working out with a client, you agree to give a formal request to switch out of a home with a minimum of two weeks’ notice, unless continuing to work poses a risk to yourself or the client. 

Driving

As this is a home health agency, you are required to drive to a client’s home to provide them with services. 

• It is expected that your vehicle be in good working order and maintained regularly. Inability to work because your vehicle is not working on a regular basis will not be acceptable. 
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• In the event that your vehicle is having problems it is your responsibility to have back up transportation to get to work. If transportation is not available it will be your responsibility to find coverage for your shift. 

Dress Code

All employees are required to present a professional image to the public and to the individuals they serve. Accordingly, each employee is required to wear appropriate attire while on the premises or when conducting business off-site.  

• Identification badges must be visible worn visibly by all employees while working with Potters Hand Clients. 
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• Potters Hand employees should always be well groomed and practice good hygiene. Facial hair should be trimmed and well groomed. An employee’s hair should be kept clean and not to interfere with patients care. Long hair should always be tied back.

• Scrubs are the suggested uniform for caregivers and nurses. If you are unable to wear scrubs, your clothing should have NO tears, holes, or stains. Your clothing should be modest, no revealing low cut tops, short shorts or derogatory graphics.

• For safety and health reasons, personnel who provide direct care services may not wear open toe sandals, slippers, or flip-flops. Proper footwear, for personnel who provide direct care services, includes wearing socks or stockings. Comfortable, closed-in shoes are required. OSHA Standard 1910.136(a) mandates that caregivers use protective footwear.

• No heavy make-up, fancy or large jewelry, strong odor perfume, short skirts, or any article that would prevent you from completing your duties or could injure a client.

• Fingernails must be kept clean and short. Artificial fingernails or extenders must not be worn when providing direct patient care.

• Hourly caregivers – PLEASE NO SMOKING at a client's home. For LIVE-Ins, this may prevent us from being able to place you.

• Please read a more comprehensive dress code requirement in your packet and sign accordingly.

• Any showing tattoo must not be disruptive or offensive and not be in conflict with our values or any other policy.

• Administrative and management team is required to wear business casual attire. Dress pants, and appropriate tops. Please ask for more information if you are not familiar with proper professional/business attire.
  
• Fridays Are Casual Day in which appropriate jeans are acceptable to wear. These should be free of stains, holes or tears.
• Please be mindful of your attire while conducting meetings in or outside of the office. 

Documentation

Your Charting must be recorded daily. Blank notebooks to record daily logs are available in the office. Please let your supervisor know if your notebook is getting close to full. When doing field notes, please remember to:

• Record duties performed.

• Remember to put your name and the client's name at the top of the field notes, so that the office can properly file them.

• Please inform supervisor if you are in need of more documentation forms.  

• Detailed description of tasks performed each day. What needs to be done, include of daily living, complete each blank on a list and do not leave any blanks, write N/A, if not applicable. Caregivers should fill in the section of the note that only applicable to them, otherwise write N/A. If you need more space to write a note or comment, use the back page of the white copy of your aide notes or a second sheet. Important things to follow in completing your aide notes and timesheets:

• Write clearly and neatly in ink.
• Correct an error by drawing a single line through the error and sign it.
• Never scribble, erase or white out a record.
• Chart procedures after they have been done, never pre-chart.
• Chart report of observations.
• Give only facts; not opinions.
• Be brief without leaving anything out.

The following should be documented as well as reported to your supervisor immediately: 

• ALL FALLS need to be reported immediately to your supervisor so appropriate action may take place. Even if the client reports a previous fall that did not occur on your shift a detailed incident report including a skin assessment should be done. Please note any marks including bruising, skin lacerations, or painful areas. 
• In the event that a fall results in a serious injury, please call 911 first, then call your supervisor. Please do not try to move a client that may have a serious injury.
• Your supervisor will follow-up with family members and I will stay with the client until 911 arrives. 

• Please report all unsafe conditions in the client's home, or any behavior of the client or his/her family member(s) that endangers your safety or that of the client.

• Patient refusal to allow you to provide care listed on the care plan

• Pain that the patient says is not controlled by medication.

• Confusion when the patient is not usually confused.



• Severe chest pain.

• Emergencies occurring during your visit. In an emergency situation, follow your agency’s procedure for emergency response.

• WATCH, LOOK, LISTEN – Trust your instincts. If something seems wrong, report it to your supervisor.

Privacy, Confidentiality & HIPPA

FACTS:

HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This is a federal law that protect the privacy of a person’s life information. HIPAA has many rules your agency must follow. Some of those rules apply to you in your role as a home health aide. There may be penalties if you break the HIPAA rules. You could even be fined.  HIPAA regulations cover many areas, but privacy of information one of the most important for you to know about.

Privacy of information means that anything you say or write about a patient must not be overheard or read by anyone unless that person has a right to hear or see the information. He or she can have that right only if the patient has signed a written consent for them to have the information.

TALKING ON THE PHONE:

• Do not talk about a patient over the phone if there is someone can hear it. If the scheduler calls you at a patient’s home about the change of assignments, never say anything that might identify any patients.
• When you call to report an observation about a patient, make sure that no one else can hear it, not even family members.
• If you receive work-related messages on your home answering machine, do not allow anyone to listen to it.
• Do not leave a message on the Clients answering machine.
• Use your cellular phone carefully. Never use the phone to relay patient information in an area where others might overhear the conversation.
• If you are using a phone or computer with work email, it MUST be password protected.

DISCUSSION WITH OTHERS:

Use the “need to know” rule. Do not discuss about the patient, even with another aide, if there is no need for the other person to know about the patient. Don’t gossip.  

NEVER discuss a patient in a common area of the office. This includes hallways, open areas, the bathroom, or the reception area.

DO NOT discuss one patient inside another patient’s home, even if you are talking with the nurse who takes care of both patients.

NEVER discuss about the patient to interested neighbor or even a family member, unless you know that the person is the health care guardian.

PAPERWORK:

• Confidential papers should be kept properly that no one can see it. 
• Do not leave papers lying around your house, car or office.
• Paper works should be taken home and kept confidential.

DO NOT throw papers with patient information in the garbage, make sure it was shred

Universal Precautions

• Universal precautions refer to the use of barrier precautions by employees to prevent direct skin or mucous membrane contact with blood or other body fluids that are visibly contaminated with blood. These precautions should be applied to blood and all body fluids of ALL persons. The purpose of universal precautions is to protect individuals form HIV infections (AIDS) and other communicable diseases.

• Barrier precautions, also known as protective equipment, include gloves, masks, gowns, glasses, goggles, and face shields. 

• HIV = Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the causative agent of the Acquired immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). This virus has been isolated on at least one occasion from blood, semen, vaginal secretions, breast milk, saliva, tears, spinal fluid, amniotic fluid, and urine. Blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and possibly breast milk are the only fluids implicated in the transmission of AIDS. No cases of AIDS infection have been reported from exposure to tears, saliva, urine, or feces. However, other potentially dangerous communicable diseases may be transmitted by these body fluids in the absence of blood contamination and avoidance is recommended.

• HIV seropositive refers to the medical condition of a persona having positive serologic (blood) tests for antibodies to AIDS. To be considered seropositive, a person must test positive repeatedly and test positive by two different methods of testing. Currently, the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the recommended screening test and the Western blot assay is the recommended confirmatory test.

• Body fluids are any secretions or emissions from the human body. Body fluids included but are not limited to semen, saliva, tears, vomits, urine, feces, breast milk, wound drainage, spinal and amniotic fluids, vaginal secretions, menses, and mucous.

• Blood is composed of both cellular and fluid components. Blood includes white and red blood cells, serum, plasma, and other untreated blood products.

• Exposure is defined as direct contact of blood or body fluids of one person with the skin or mucous membranes of another person. Scientific evidence indicates the only direct contact with semen, vaginal secretions, blood, or visibly blood contaminated body fluids carries a potential risk for HIV transmission. Moreover, only direct contact with blood has been implicated in occupational acquisition of AIDS infection.

Universal Precautions Guidelines 

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the causative agent of AIDS, is transmitted through direct contact with blood, through sexual intercourse or prenatally from an infected pregnant woman to the baby she is carrying. Blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and possibly breast milk are the only body fluids known to transmit HIV. Universal precautions also apply to tissues and to the following fluids: cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), synovial fluid, pleural fluid, peritoneal fluid, pericardial fluid, and amniotic fluid. The risk of transmission of HIV from these fluids is unknown; epidemiologic studies in the healthcare and community setting are currently inadequate to assess to potential risk to healthcare workers from occupational exposures to them.

Staff members must protect themselves from direct exposure to blood or body fluids that are visibly contaminated with blood to prevent exposure to HIV. However, many potentially serious communicable diseases, such as hepatitis, are transmitted by body fluids such as saliva, urine, or feces, regardless of contamination with blood. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that precautions be taken to prevent direct contact with all body fluids of all persons, whether or not the body fluids are visibly contaminated with blood.

• Wear sterile gloves for procedures involving contact with normally sterile areas of the body.

• Use examination gloves for procedures involving contact with mucous membranes, unless otherwise indicated, and for other patient care or diagnostic procedures that do not require the use of sterile gloves.

Wear gloves in situations where direct contact with blood or body fluids that are visibly contaminated with blood is likely. Examples of such situations include but are not limited to:

• Wound or decubitus care

• Cleaning up blood contaminated vomits, urine, or feces; and



• Handling items or surfaces soiled with blood or blood contaminated body fluids.

Gloves are not necessary for contact with intact skin or for handling unsoiled objects previously in contact with or handled by others. Gloves are provided by Potters Hand. Please contact your supervisor when a home is running low. 

Medications

As an employee of Potters Hand, it is against company policy to administer medications. I can give medication reminders. I can assist them if the medications are prepackaged by handing them the package, however cannot physically administer the medications. If a client has narcotic medications out in the open please notify your supervisor immediately.

• Narcotic medications should NEVER be handled by staff. 

• If a client has their medications in a lock box, staff should not have access to this. If a client is trying to give you access to their lock box please notify your supervisor immediately. If you access a client’s lock box and medications go missing, you could be held liable. To prevent this never access a clients locked medications. Always give a client privacy when they opening their locked box. 



• If a client tells you they are concerned about their medications missing, this should be reported immediately.

Time Sheets

All hours worked must be documented on the time sheets provided. It is your responsibility to inform your supervisor if more time sheets are needed. 

• Time sheets should be filled out in blue or black ink only. 

• Please write neat and clear. 

• Client signature MUST be after each visit. Time sheets without clients’ signatures will not be accepted. 

• A separate time sheet should be used for every client. 

• All time sheets should be sent to your supervisor by 10:00 pm on Sunday. 

Paychecks

Pay day will be biweekly, with payday being on Fridays. Paychecks will be direct deposited.

• Please inform your supervisor IMMEDIATELY if there is an error on your check. 

• If the error is an error you made on your time sheets, the corrected amount will be added to your next check. 

• There will be a $25.00 fee for making a stop payment on a lost check (this is the fee charged by the agency's bank).

Termination Policy

A violation of the following rules listed below may result in disciplinary action, including warning, suspension, or immediate termination:

• Client abandonment without proper notification to Care Coordinator or Management.

• Frequent absences, cancelling or tardiness

• Failure to notify agency for not showing up at a client assignment or no call no show.

• Sleeping or appearing to be asleep on the job.

• Working privately for any clients privately without the agency’s knowledge

• Poor job performance

• Stealing, dishonesty or damaging any property of others

• Falsification of personnel or client’s records

• Abusing, harassing or mistreating of client’s and or employees

• Rude, immoral or indecent conduct

• Accepting visitors or having anyone over during work hours

• Not complying with safety and emergency rules

• Fighting or creating disturbance on agency or client’s property 

• Violation of client’s rights in any manner

• Disclosing confidential or personal information about a client or an employee

• Possession of a weapon or any threating acts towards the clients, employees and others.

• Discussing personal problems and assisting clients with any money related transaction.

• Accepting of tips or gratuities or borrowing money from clients and their families.

• Soliciting (like selling tickets, chances on pools, gambling, or products)
• Any HIPPA violations

• Inactive status of ninety (90) days 

• Three disciplinary occurrences will result in termination. Serious offenses are subject to immediate termination. 

No Compete Policy

As an employee of Potters Hand LLC. you are unable to directly or indirectly work for a current client privately. It is further noted that you are agreeing to for a term of 12 months after your employment has ended you are not to solicit and clients or work with them privately without written consent from Potters Hand. 

Resignation

Caregivers

Should I decide to resign, I agree to give at least two weeks’ notice. I will return any company property that I have. (For example, ID badge, etc.) I agree to fulfill all of my assigned duties in my last two weeks of employment. 



Management

Should I decide to resign, I agree to give at least four weeks’ notice of my resignation. I agree to return any company property that I have prior to my last day of employment.